


Whether Spoken or Not

by Catchclaw



Series: Mental Mimosa [32]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 15:12:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14751264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catchclaw/pseuds/Catchclaw
Summary: I’m sorry(he wasn’t)I didn’t mean(oh, he had)The door was open(yes, it had been--and if he’d just looked once and backed away, that might’ve been sufficient but he'd stood there for what, five solid minutes at least, watching and listening and stiffening, and no four little words were gonna get him out of that.)





	Whether Spoken or Not

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: I had a feeling it would come to this, I just hoped you wouldn’t figure it out until the end. Prompt from this [generator](http://colormayfade.tumblr.com/generator).

Tony stood with his back to the door, his hands a nervous knot that refused to untangle. Barnes was staring at him with an expression somehow more terrifying than the murderbot gaze he’d shown up with, the fathomless one he’d worn so often in those first uncomfortable days. It was soft, Bucky’s face, now, the hard lines of it eased, and his eyes, Christ, his eyes--there was something in them that made Tony’s gut tight, the blood in his body threaten to boil.

That the man was wearing only sweatpants and an old t-shirt of Steve’s didn’t help matters much. He was barefoot and not talking and this would’ve been so much easier if he was a motormouth like Tony. Like Tony usually was, that is. Now, he couldn’t think of a damn thing to say.

 _I’m sorry_ (he wasn’t)  
_I didn’t mean_ (oh, he had)  
_The door was open_ (yes, it had been--and if he’d just looked once and backed away, that might’ve been sufficient but he’d stood there for what, five solid minutes at least, watching and listening and stiffening, and no four little words were gonna get him out of that.)

“I’m not angry,” Bucky said finally. “Jesus, Tony. I’m not going to hit you or anything.”

Tony shrugged, tried to say with his body: _Didn’t think that you were_. A lie, whether spoken or not.

Why wasn’t he leaving? Why hadn’t he left?

Why’d he come in in the first place?

Because Bucky had asked him to, there at the end. Bucky had said his name.

“I figured that you’d find out. Or figure it out. One of the two.” Barnes ran a hand through his hair, the clean one, and gave up a sheepish little smile. “Never was any good at hiding stuff like that. Kind of my thing, once. Wearing my heart on my sleeve.”

“No wonder you and Rogers get along,” Tony said, to his own goddamn surprise. “Sentimental types, the both of you.”

The sound of his own voice, weirdly, steadied him. He still felt awkward as fuck and the room still smelled like spunk and somehow, he was still hard, even flushed with embarrassment, but hey. He felt a lot less like he was gonna pass out. Progress.

“There are worse things to be, believe me. And honestly, it’s kind of a relief that you know.” His eyes found Tony’s, blossomed. “That and the fact that you didn’t run away in terror.”

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“Tony.” Bucky’s voice dropped, an octave that made Tony shiver. “Come on. You can’t tell me this is an everyday thing.”

“The looking-without-permission part? Definitely not. I prefer everybody to be on the same page.”

“No,” Bucky said, color sneaking up his throat, “not that. I meant, the, ah--”

“Oh,” Tony said, “you mean the colleague jacking off and groaning my name as he comes thing? Yeah, well. I don’t know. Who can say? I wouldn’t put it past Barton.”


End file.
